I can’t believe that Sophie will be 10 months old in a couple of days! It’s almost time to start thinking about that first birthday party!! It will be so much fun to celebrate birthdays with two summer babies now! My sister is already giving me great ideas about party themes so thankfully I can rely on her expertise in seeking out cute themes when I am short on time! Soph is trying really hard to learn to crawl….she pushes herself up on all fours and rocks back and forth…sometimes even scooting backwards (to her suprise!) but hasn’t quite figured out how to go forward. She is content ROLLING everywhere! It’s almost comical how quickly she can get around (and can cover a lot of area) just by rolling! She does well with purred food and now that she FINALLY has her first tooth, she has started doing better eating foods with more texture. She likes cheerios and insists on trying whatever we are having at dinner time. She doesn’t often eat much of it but she will let you hear about it if you don’t let her at least try a bite. Her favorite thing lately has been to play in Syd’s play kitchen…she loves knawing on all of the play food, opening the doors to the kitchen and pulling the shopping cart over!

Syd is doing great in preschool. They are working on learning to write their names and though she’s really struggled with her S’s, we’ve made some real progress with them over the last couple of days. I have a feeling that she’ll have it in no time! She recognizes all the letters of the alphabet and all numbers 1-10. She is always telling us what letter a particular word starts with and really recognizes store names whenever you are out and about. She loves to do projects of any kind…cutting with kid scissors, painting, glueing, you name it, the kid loves it! At least once a week she makes me laugh by coming downstairs from her nap/quiet time with her spiderman costume on. She definitely is her own kind of girl…enjoys playing dress up in dresses and jewlery with her friends but loves playing spiderman and running around in her Cars slippers on the other hand. Both girls are unique and that is what makes this journey so fun and unpredictable!

Randy finally started his new schedule this week…yay! He got a promotion about a month and a half ago and now that they’ve hired his replacement he’s been able to start his new position. From everything he’s told me he loves it. He comes home 3 hours earlier every night and will no longer have to work weekends or be on call with the pager. I feel like we’ve been on vacation all week having him home so early but it makes me realize how much I’ve missed dinners, bathtimes, and bedtimes as a family!

So I finally found a hobby for myself that I’ve been able to stick with pretty consistently for about two months now. I’ve been working out! I’ve been going to the gym or group fitness classes three times a week since mid January and am loving it! Although I’m not shedding pounds as quickly as I put them on (argh!) in making changes in my diet and consistently exercising I’ve lost 11 pounds so far! The best result is how great I’m feeling and the energy I’m gaining. I am working toward becoming the me I want to be!

Today preschool was cancelled so Syd got to stay home with Soph and I this morning. We got 11 inches of snow yesterday and it’s still falling outside as we speak! The neighbor comes down the sidewalk with his snowblower every couple of hours to move the couple more inches that have accumulated but who knows how much we’ll end up when all is said and done! So what’s a snow day without playing in the snow?! While Sophie napped upstairs, Syd and I played in the backyard in the snow…

Sydney had her first Christmas program on Tuesday night…the preschoolers did well but like Juma always says…it was a little chaotic (much like hearding kittens would be) but about as cute as could be! Send us a comment or an email if you’d like a link to the video of her Christmas program (we’ve posted it on You Tube).

Sophie is doing well…she had a little tummy trouble this week but seems to be fine now. I think it must have just been teething. She is effortlessly rolling both ways and is sitting up without falling now. She isn’t always in the same place where you leave her so we’re starting the stage of watching out for every little thing that could have possibly been left on the floor. She’s a good eater but still thinks it’s funny to blow rasberries while we’re feeding her orange colored vegetables! The girls really love each other…Sophie just laughs at Syd…even when she’s not trying to be funny.! Who am I kidding…Syd makes us all laugh a lot!

There is a lot of excited anticipation of Santa’s arrival and delivery at our house. The girls have been spoiled rotten (as usual!) and have about a million gifts to open under the tree. Randy and I aren’t exchanging gifts this year but I can honestly say that I am extremely excited to watch the girls open the gifts we got/made for them and to hear about the reaction from the children in the family that our small group adopted. We have so much to be thankful for this season but are most thankful for the birth of our Savior…let’s not forget what we’re celebrating in two short days!

We had a wonderful time hosting Thanksgiving this year. We had 11 people in all and enjoyed stuffing ourselves silly. Sophie joined in on the fun and ate mashed potatoes alongside everyone else. We spent the afternoon playing dominoes and drinking coffee and then enjoyed some awesome pie before calling it an evening.

We spent Friday-Sunday in Coeur d’Alene visiting with my sister and Gavin and Gavin’s family. We took a Christmas cruise Saturday night on Coeur d’Alene lake and enjoyed a couple of delicious dinners out. Thankfully this was not a snowy Thanksgiving and the roads to and from Idaho were dry which made the drive relaxing (along with the help of the portable DVD player to keep Syd entertained in the car for 3 hours)!

After not getting out a single Christmas card last year, I was quite proud of myself for mailing them all out on 12/1 this year. I guess I’m overcompensating for being a serious slacker last year! I’m still way behind in posting pictures so here are some of our favs from our trip to Georgia at the end of October, Halloween, fun in the snow, and Thanksgiving weekend.

Who is the SNUGGLIEST baby I know?
Who gets millions of compliments as the cutest baby ever anywhere we go?
Who rocks the most adorable little leg rolls I’ve ever seen?
Who is the baby that everyone asks, “Is she always this easy?” to which we can emphatically reply, “YES!”
Who hasn’t slept through the night since 3 months old but has blessed us with two back-to-back (and might I say) glorious nights of sleep the past two nights?
Who giggles with delight when she sees us making her bottle and then screams if you take it out of sight?
Who laughs hysterically at anything her big sister says yet yanks her hair out at any chance she can get?

She has the sweetest heart…such a sensitive but gentle spirit! She is her own unique self and we’ve loved every minute we’ve gotten to spend getting to know her (or trying to figure her out)! I can’t remember life before Sophie and hope I never have to experience life without both of my girls. They complete our family and are a physical reminder of what God’s unconditional love is like.

Sneaking a hand up for a lock of sister's hair!

Last night I decided to make chili for dinner…it was a cold and rainy day and sounded like a great way to curl up at the end of the day. We always make cornbread muffins to eat with our chili so those became the second set of muffins baked yesterday!

All of that being said, when Randy came down yesterday morning and smelled the banana muffins baking, he was sorely disappointed to learn that they were not for his breakfast. Feeling a little guilty I decided I’d try to make a special breakfast this morning to make it up to him. I have been dying for something Pumpkinlicious as I try to find ways to mix it in to various carb-filled goodies this time of year…waffles, pancakes, muffins, bread, etc. I found this recepe and made them this morning and they were amazing! Not only did they fill the house with a wonderful aroma but they were as easy as they were delicous and made up for the muffin-misunderstanding the day before!

PUMPKIN MUFFINS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Enjoy!

Saturday Brandi and I took a trip to Coeur de’Lane to spend some time together without the kiddos. This was my first night away from both girls but Randy did a great job holding down the fort. I didn’t know what to do with 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep! Brandi and I had planned on casually looking at cars to help me narrow down the type of SUV I wanted to buy. I ended up finding a car that was exactly what I was looking for (at a good price!) so Randy and the girls and my dad drove over on Sunday to check out the car, give their seal of approval, and by Sunday evening I was the proud new owner of a 2008 Ford Expedition! I love my new car and although we didn’t get as much downtime as we’d hoped for, I was so thankful for any time with my sister and for all of her help throughout my car search!

I can’t wait to watch Sophie and Sydney grow up alongside one another. They won’t know until later how great a blessing having a sister truly is but I hope that they keep that in mind during those years that they think they can’t stand one another. There were a few precious sister moments today that kept me smiling and thinking of my lil sis…Sophie woke up from her nap today and while sitting on my lap rocking in the rocker, she was just staring at Sydney who was sitting next to us on our bed. I moved Sophie to re-position her on my lap and she just started crying hysterically…turns out, she was mad because she no longer could see her sister. As soon as she could see sissy again and calmed down, she was fine again! Syd and Soph can now ride next to one another in the new car. If Sophie starts to get upset in the car, all Sydney has to do is start talking to Soph or singing to her and soon you’ll hear Sophie hysterically laughing…it’s so cute! Sydney told me several times today that she’s going to get to take Sophie to school on the school bus when it’s time for her to go to kindergarten…it makes my heart so happy that she has such a helpful heart when it comes to teaching her sister!